family connections
by wild wolf free17
Summary: Parker said, "This is my grandpa Hermes."
1. Chapter 1

**Title**: summer sang in me

**Fandom**: White Collar/mythology

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: takes place somewhat early on

**Pairings**: none

**Rating**: PG  
**Wordcount**: 580

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: White Collar, Neal/Peter, Peter always thought that Neal had no family. It turns out that Neal is a son of Hermes, God of Thieves

* * *

Neal doesn't often talk about his family. Occasionally, he starts a sentence with _when my father_, but then he seems to realize it and cuts himself off. The only time Peter reacted was the first, just in case Neal ever decides to finish the thought.

Peter used to think Neal had an unhappy childhood; why else would he have gone into crime, reinvented himself, and lie like breathing?

He doesn't believe Neal was abused. Possibly neglected. Neal never mentions his mother, step-mother, foster mother, adopted mother, grandmother, aunt, or any woman at all who might have had a hand in raising him. But he _does_ mention his father, sometimes, in relation to various cons he pulls for the FBI.

_—when my father—_

o0o

Neal is fifteen minutes late to work. He doesn't answer his phone, either the loft's or his cell. Peter checks his anklet; it's still at the loft.

Peter leaves without telling anyone.

o0o

Peter walks silently up the stairs, hearing laughter—Neal's and a stranger's, light as a breeze. They're speaking a language Peter doesn't know. It sounds like it might be Greek.

"Come on in, Peter," Neal calls when he hits the landing.

"You're late," Peter announces, pushing open the door. He pauses once he catches sight of Neal's visitor: a man a few years younger than Neal, with hair a little lighter and eyes just as blue, with a smirk identical to Neal's _I know something you don't know_ smirk.

"Agent Burke," the stranger says. "Delighted to meet you."

Neal grins. "Peter, this is Herman, a very old friend of mine."

Peter raises an eyebrow as 'Herman' grimaces. The name doesn't fit at all but Herman doesn't deny it.

"And Herman," Neal continues, clapping a hand onto Herman's shoulder, "this is Peter, my most recent keeper."

Peter holds out a hand and Herman grips it hard, his palm calloused and strong. "Agent Burke," he says again, "thank you."

o0o

Neal seems so _happy_ in Herman's presence that Peter simply can't force him into work today. After twenty minutes of Herman relating some of Neal's early attempts at painting and conning, he tells them he has to return to the office, and orders Neal to come in early tomorrow.

Instead of shaking Peter's hand in goodbye, Herman pulls him into a massive hug and whispers in his ear, "Thank you."

Peter pulls away in bemusement, glancing at Neal, who only shrugs, and then Peter leaves.

o0o

(Neal takes his visitor to his favorite café in New York. He doesn't worry about his anklet; it will say he's in his loft until tomorrow, when he heads to work.

He keeps calling his visitor Herman and they speak in ancient Greek, the language his father taught him in the cradle, when he whispered about Apollo's cattle and the lyre.

"He seems like a good man, kiddo," Herman says, sipping his lemonade. "I approve."

Neal grins at him and recommends the chocolate chip waffles.)

o0o

_when my father charmed the gods, he played a great con._

_he told me I can do better._

o0o

Neal walks into Peter's office whistling, flipping his hat in his hands, and he looks so happy, so _young_. Peter can't help smiling at him.

The smile he gets back is brilliant, one he's never seen before.

Later, at the private art gallery that's missing a painting (The Cattle of Apollon, by an artist Peter's never heard of), Neal says, "My father would've like you, Peter."

Peter takes that as a compliment.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title**: stories and bloodlines

**Fandom**: Leverage/mythology

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: future!fic

**Pairings**: implied Hardison/Parker

**Rating**: PG  
**Wordcount**: 335

**Point of view**: third

**Prompt**: Leverage; team; turns out everyone but Nate are actually mythological figures in disguise.

**Notes**: I looked up some myths to try and spread the pantheons around a little. Two might be very obscure; I don't want to give it away, so if you don't get 'em, just ask.

* * *

"Papa!" Parker called, running over to the slight brunet with bright blue eyes. Nate raised a brow as the man turned and scooped Parker into a massive hug, swinging her around with a laugh.

"Darling!" he replied, giving her a kiss on the forehead. "I'm gone for a few years and you grow up. Ach, you children."

"Gonna introduce us?" Hardison asked, sounding somewhere between jealous and annoyed.

The stranger (and 'Papa'? really?) smirked. Parker said, "This is my grandpa Hermes."

"Herman," he added quickly. "Call me Herman."

Hardison stiffened, trying to stifle a hiss. Sophie smiled elegantly and took 'Herman's hand. "Wonderful to meet you," she purred. "Parker's said nothing about you."

Eliot simply bared his teeth in what couldn't ever be called a smile.

Herman raised Sophie's hand to his lips and said, "Enchanted." He released her hand and met her eyes. "Didn't I once know you as Epona?"

Another smile, this one a slight degree above Arctic. Nate tried to remember if any of Sophie's identities had ever been 'Epona' and couldn't think of one.

"That would've been a very long time ago, Herman," Sophie said. She took his arm and turned them towards a table, saying, "Now, Herman, you're going to buy us all a drink and tell us why you left Parker in the American foster-care system if you are, in fact, her grandfather."

Nate shook his head, wondering if everyone else had gone mad as Hardison added, "And then you're gonna teach me a few tricks, y'hear, Herman? There's a spider I gotta skip a few levels of badass to impress."

Eliot cut in between Sophie and Herman, seeming much _much_ larger for a moment. "Explanation better be good, too," he said, and it sounded just like a growl.

Herman threw a glance at Parker. She grinned and waved.

Nate wanted a whiskey, but his team would never let him have one, so he simply sat down at the table and waited for the world to make sense again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Title**: secrets

**Fandom**: White Collar/mythology

**Disclaimer**: not my characters

**Warnings**: none

**Rating**: PG  
**Wordcount**: 165

**Point** **of** **view**: third

**Prompt**: Greek

* * *

Peter knows that Neal has secrets, things he'll never tell Peter if he has any choice in the matter. Most of Neal's past is a mystery. Peter still doesn't know who 'Herman' is, beyond some part of Neal's past that he still likes. They look enough alike to be brothers and Neal obviously gave him a fake name.

Peter knows 'Neal Caffrey' is an alias, albeit one Neal likes. If he ever figures out Neal's birth name, whoever he was as a child, he'll get Agent of the Year.

Neal speaks five languages fluently, including English. At least, five that Peter knows about. He'll need to update the list to include Greek. In his free time since Herman's visit, Peter has phonetically written out what he remembers from their conversation, trying to determine what dialect it is. He's had no success at all.

He could ask Neal. But Neal had been so happy...

Peter sighs and deletes all his research on the mystery dialect.


End file.
